Estelita Rodriguez Movies

William "One Shot" Beaudine's companion piece to the equally nonsensical Billy the Kid vs. Dracula represents a memorable closing to the eccentric "Z"-movie auteur's amusing body of work. The hare-brained concept finds the legendary outlaw Jesse James (John Lupton) stumbling into the decrepit lair of Maria Frankenstein (Narda Onyx) -- not the daughter but the granddaughter of the infamous monster-making Baron. Maria is, of course, following in Grandpa's footsteps by creating a creature of her own, transplanting the dormant but still-intact brain of Frankenstein's original monster into the body of one of James' cohorts. The lumbering, homicidal monster -- imaginatively dubbed "Igor" -- begins terrorizing townsfolk until the inevitable showdown between living and undead gunslingers. Though not as flamboyantly awful as its predecessor (mainly due to the absence of John Carradine), this is still worth a look for trash-movie completists. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Set in Texas during the late 1860s, Rio Bravo is a story of men (and women) and a town under siege. Presidio County Sheriff John T. Chance (John Wayne) is holding Joe Burdette (Claude Akins), a worthless, drunken thug, for the murder of an unarmed man in a fight in a saloon -- the problem is that Joe is the brother of wealthy land baron Nathan Burdette (John Russell), who owns a big chunk of the county and can buy all the hired guns he doesn't already have working for him. Burdette's men cut the town off to prevent Chance from getting Joe into more secure surroundings, and then the hired guns come in, waiting around for their chance to break him out of jail. Chance has to wait for the United States marshal to show up, in six days, his only help from Stumpy (Walter Brennan), a toothless, cantankerous old deputy with a bad leg who guards the jail, and Dude (Dean Martin), his former deputy, who's spent the last two years stumbling around in a drunken stupor over a woman that left him. Chance's friend, trail boss Pat Wheeler (Ward Bond), arrives at the outset of the siege and tries to help, offering the services of himself and his drovers as deputies, which Chance turns down, saying they're not professionals and would be too worried about their families to be good at anything except being targets for Burdette's men; but Chance does try to enlist the services of Wheeler's newest employee, a callow-looking young gunman named Colorado Ryan (Ricky Nelson), who politely turns him down, saying he prefers to mind his own business. In the midst of all of this tension, Feathers (Angie Dickinson), a dance hall entertainer, arrives in town and nearly gets locked up by Chance for cheating at cards, until he finds out that he was wrong and that she's not guilty -- this starts a verbal duel between the two of them that grows more sexually intense as the movie progresses and she finds herself in the middle of Chance's fight. Wheeler is murdered by one of Burgette's hired guns who is, in turn, killed by Dude in an intense confrontation in a saloon. Colorado throws in with Chance after his boss is killed and picks up some of the slack left by Dude, who isn't quite over his need for a drink or the shakes that come with trying to stop. Chance and Burdette keep raising the ante on each other, Chance, Dude, and Colorado killing enough of the rancher's men that he's got to double what he's paying to make it worth the risk, and the undertaker (Joseph Shimada) gets plenty of business from Burdette before the two sides arrive at a stalemate -- Burdette is holding Dude and will release him in exchange for Joe. This leads to the final, bloody confrontation between Chance and Burdette, where the wagons brought to town by the murdered Wheeler play an unexpected and essential role in tipping the balance. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

In Roy Rogers' final big-screen effort, the cowboy hero plays a U.S. Border Patrolman assigned to prevent a herd of diseased cattle from crossing over from Mexico. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

Cuban Fireball is a vehicle for the combustible talents of Estelita Rodriguez, here cast as "herself." The plot finds Estelita arriving in Los Angeles to claim a multimillion-dollar inheritance. To fend off fortune hunters, she disguises herself as a meek little old lady. The rest of the story sustains this level of credibility. Warren Douglas co-stars as Estelita's true love, while Leon Belasco is the most prominent of the film's many antagonists. The film's 78-minute running time affords ample opportunity for Estelita Rodriguez to render four songs. Dyed-in-the-wool fans of Republic Pictures will easily recognize Cuban Fireball as a South-of-the-Border retooling of the studio's popular Judy Canova musical comedies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Estelita Rodriguez, Republic's south-of-the-border answer to their own Judy Canova, stars in Havana Rose. Rodriguez plays Estelita DeMarco, the daughter of foreign Ambassador DeMarco (Fortunio Bonanova), who is looking for a way to raise $5,000,000 for his poverty-stricken South American country. Just when Ambassador DeMarco is on the verge of securing a loan from eccentric millionaire Filbert Fillmore (Hugh Herbert) and his haughty wife (Florence Bates), Estelita messes up the deal. With the help of Texas rancher Tex Thompson (Bill Williams), our heroine manages to mollify Fillmore and his wife and save the day. Havana Rose is highlighted by three Latin American musical numbers, all of which are a lot livelier than the rest of the film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Beautiful Adele Mara, who Republic Pictures took for granted for far too long, finally gets a chance to shine in this fine Western produced and directed by the dependent Joseph Kane. Mara plays Beth Martin, an Easterner traveling west to be reunited with her brother, Bob (Bill Williams). But Bob is not quite the hard-working miner that Beth and kid brother Tommy (Peter Miles) believed him to be and the newcomers quickly find themselves caught between double-crossing saloon owners Mike Prescott (Forrest Tucker) and Lincoln Corey (Jim Davis). Estelita Rodriguez, as Bob Martin's faithful girlfriend, performs "Second Hand Romance" and "I'm Goin' Round in Circles," both by Jack Elliott and Harold Spina. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In this musical showcase, a young crooner encounters his "twin," a luckless gambler who must come up with $200,000 in 48 hours. The helpful singer and he end up trading places for a while and musical mayhem ensues. The film is also titled Hit Parade of 1951. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Sunset in the West finds Roy Rogers playing a deputy sheriff in a wide-open town. Roy must contend with a vicious gun-smuggling ring, this time aided and abetted by a bloodhound (not Rogers' "wonder dog" Bullet). The climax, set aboard a moving freight-car festooned with cases of live ammunitions, is one of the more exciting in the entire Rogers canon. Though Penny Edwards plays the nominal heroine, Estelita Rodriguez dominates the proceedings as a peppery South American songstress. Also contributing to the musical portion of the program are Foy Willing and the Riders of the Purple Sage. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Part of the Roy Rogers series, this film focuses on Roy Roger's horse, Trigger, and his infatuation with a handsome palomino mare. When Trigger discovers the mare being beaten by her lowlife owner, he kills him, leaving Rogers to take the blame. However, it seems that Trigger's new girlfriend might be unwittingly involved in some underhanded activity. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

One of the better Roy Rogers films of its period, The Gay Ranchero also happens to be one of the more violent Rogers efforts. The villains want to gain control of a private airport, and aren't above sabotage and murder to get what they want. Riding to the rescue is sheriff Rogers, who is aided by Latino-flyboy Nicci Lopez (Tito Guizar). Roy gets to warble several tunes both by himself and with heroine Jane Frazee, while Tito Guizar solos on "You Belong to My Heart" and "Granada." One of the writers of the title song was Abe Tuvim, the father of actress Judy Holliday. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

With the defection of Gene Autry from the Republic lot, Roy Rogers was truly the King of the Singing Cowboys. In On the Old Spanish Trail, Rogers is for the first time teamed with Latin American singing favorite Tito Guizar. The plot finds Roy and Tito involved with a travelling cowboy tentshow in the modern west. Though there are an abundance of action highlights, the film is lighthearted in nature, as evidenced by the character name of Andy Devine, "Cookie Bullfincher". Rogers and Guizar later costarred with more impressive results in The Gay Ranchero. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this musical comedy, a popular Mexican singer finds himself tiring of the constant adulation of rabidly adoring females and decides to fake a marriage so that will stop ripping the clothing off his body after concerts. Unfortunately, he and the woman he chooses seldom agree and mayhem ensues. Songs include: "Mexicana," "Lupita," "See Mexico," "Heartlessness," "Time Out for Dreaming," "De Corazon a Corazon," "Somewhere There's a Rainbow," and "The Children's Song." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide